Abstract

Device training can be perceived as a burden for clinicians that prescribe real time continuous glucose monitoring. Accordingly, a novel web-based training was developed that allows for self-guided learning. It is unknown if the degree of previous CGM experience will affect how patients may benefit from this approach Therefore, an on-line survey study was conducted that included 1,517 adult respondents from April, 2010 - November, 2011. Data was collected after initial purchase and training of the Dexcom SEVEN PLUS (Dexcom Inc., San Diego, CA). Using a 5 point lickert scale, all patient respondents scored their level of satisfaction with their training method. For this analysis, those patients who opted for a self-guided training method (n=786 or 52% of total study population), were sub-analyzed for their level of satisfaction as well as to identify the percentage of CGM-naïve patients opted for this training option. The data confirms many adult patients can successfully initiate Dexcom CGM through a self-guided training program with a high degree of satisfaction. The majority of CGM naïve patients chose a self-guided training method, but reported a high level of satisfaction with their device training experience. The level of satisfaction with the self-guided training method was higher in the CGM-naïve patients when compared to past-CGM users. This surprising outcome leads to the conclusion that a web-based CGM device tutorial can be an effective and convenient method of device training for CGM-naïve patients.